A Unified Escape

A Unified Escape





         He stood out about five feet from the edge of the cliff, peering out towards the infinite space ahead, wondering what was out there and what any of it could hold for him. He changed his gaze from onward to downward, from the endless horizon to the rocky bottom of the cliff, and kicked a small rock off the edge that he now stood on. He noted how quickly the piece of earth collided with the ground below, plummeting to its’ demolition, and decided that it was not nearly as long a fall as he had previously thought.

         He turned around and looked back towards the way he came, the path that had made him so weary and lonesome, and contemplated walking back. Back to the cities and factories and rushing mobs of people that had become so synonymous with his life, but decided to stay there on the quiet barren earth that was so unfamiliar to him. He sat down for a moment but quickly became restless. His hands were shaking and his palms sweating as he decided once more to walk towards the edge of the cliff and peer downwards. He couldn’t understand why in one direction from where he stood there was vast blueness as far as the eye could see, yet in the other there was a sudden conclusion.

         He shook off the thought and saw the sun beginning to cascade below the hilltops in the distance and decided it time to make his way back home and out of the wasteland that so puzzled him. He took a number of steps opposite the edge of the cliff but before making any real progress saw a pretty girl a few years his minor walking in the direction he had just stood. He stopped his progress and looked back at her, her ragged clothes blowing in unison with her brown hair in the wind. She felt his gaze and turned to him just before reaching the edge of the cliff, displaying a pair of betrayed and broken eyes and began to speak.

         “Excuse me sir, but I had plans to die tonight, but here you are an inconvenient spectator, and I’m sure you’re going to tell me it’s not right.”

He was stunned as he looked at the damaged young girl with a gray shade of empathy, reading her story through her weakened eyes, and sent her a response of his own.

“Do you even understand the capacity of what you just said to me? And to whom you’re talking for that matter?”

He wanted only to help her but he knew not what to say or do. A moment’s hesitation could mean the end for this young girl, so he had to trust his instincts and say what came to mind. It was true though, that she had no idea who he was or what he stood for, let alone what he may or may not condone. She looked deep into his eyes with tears beginning to stream down hers and wept her reply.

“I don’t care, you don’t even know me!”

“I know” he began, not knowing exactly what to say “but I’d like to change that hopefully.”

No words escaped her mouth, only muttered sounds as she continued to weep with her hand covering her face. She stood in a completely hopeless manner, pulling on the curls of her hair. She looked lost, as a child does, and that was when he noticed the true innocence about her. It would be such a shame he thought, for such an evidently sweet girl to end life by her own hand, so he stepped towards her with his arm out as a sign of help. She took another step back towards the edge of the earth, cautioning him not to move a step closer.

“Listen” he began, “Life gets rough for us all. There are no definite answers to anything in this life, and sometimes we wonder why or how we are in the position that we are, it might seem unbearable to go on but you have to remember that giving up on life doesn’t take away the chance of life getting any worse, it eliminates the hope of the future getting better. We all flirt with the notion of self-conclusion, but the trick is to never to never act on it, no matter how bad or miserable life gets.”

She was breathing heavily, gasping for air and brushing the wetness from her eyes off of her cheek. Her crying had not subsided. She inhaled and exhaled a number of times before finally being able to reply to the man she had just met.

“You make it sound so easy to be alive. But how am I supposed to go on living when everything inside of me has died? When all hope is lost and everything you have ever known has been torn apart, tell me how am I supposed to seize this day?”

“Listen, I have no idea what you are going through. Nobody ever could. It is your own battle, your own despair, but please you have no idea the repercussions of what you are about to do.”

She didn’t reply. Instead she turned around, took two steps closer to the edge of the earth and spread her arms out like wings. She took a deep breath and began to smile at the thought of the end of everything. She found solace in the thought of death and serenity in the image of her body cascading through the warm air to its’ sudden end. She bent her legs and began her upward progression towards a jump, her body feeling completely released. She was anticipating the feeling of being as free as a bird, the freest she had ever been. She was on the verge of escaping the ground below her feet when she heard him speak once more.

“I know your legs are begging to leap, but please listen to me! I know that this cliché motivation could never be enough. It never will be, but please I offer you a simple choice. Instead of dying, live with me.”

She turned around and once again he looked into the broken eyes of the beautifully fragile girl before him and he knew that he could love her. He knew he could make a difference, he just hoped that she shared the same cosmic energy that he did.

“Are you crazy? You don’t even know me!”

“I know, but I’d like to change that soon hopefully.”

He knew deep down that they had much more in common than she could imagine. He hoped that he could show her that somehow, he only needed the time. But time was not on his side, for she was contemplating death at that very moment.

“What makes you think that you can convince me to change my plans and just go away with you? We don’t know each other at all. You’re no different from the rest. You’re only going to hurt me.”

“Look, I would be lying if I said that things would never get rough. That’s life, and sometimes life is hard, but sometimes it can be great too. There is always something more beautiful on the other side of the horizon. You just have to venture far enough to find it.”

She stood motionless, not saying a word. She didn’t know what to say but it was obvious that he had not changed her mind. She thought for a moment, and then looked up to the infinite sky of blue, shook her head and turned back around to the edge of the cliff. Sensing that his time was running out he vocalized one more time in desperation, hoping that she would finally understand the honesty of his plea.

“I could stand here all night trying to convince you, but what good would that do? My offer still stands and choose you must. Death or a chance at life with me?”

“You don’t even know me!” She screamed this time in desperation and frustration at the man’s persistence. She wished only to be left alone so that she could carry out her final deed and meet her fate.

“Settle precious, I know what you’re going through. Ten minutes before you got here I was going to jump too.” He exhaled heavily at what he had just said. He was having a hard enough time being able to admit it to himself, but somehow there he was admitting to a complete stranger. It was at that moment that he realized that he loved the beautifully desperate girl before him.

He looked at her deep once more, hoping that she would understand the sincerity and honesty in what he had just stated. She looked back at him. They stood locked in a stalemate of gazes into each other’s depths before finally she turned embarrassed and shyly away and began to cry, her tears like raindrops splashing on the cold earth. The sun was beginning to settle completely under the hilltops for the night, as there was only a thin stream of orange light beaming from the sunset and into their view.

“It simply took me to see another person on the edge of life, wishing for the cold release of death, just as I was to realize how beautiful life is. You just have to push to the other side of the horizon to find it! Seeing you at your most extreme limit has changed me. Still I am broken, but so are you. So why not give me a chance?”

“Okay you win, but I only give you one night to prove to me a better option than crafting my own peril. If you hurt me I swear to you that it will be the end of me.”

He nodded his head and stepped towards her, grabbed her hand and gestured for them to leave. He took one step ahead of her before being stopped by her grip on his arm. He turned to face her, knowing not why she had stopped his progress, but before he could begin to ask his question she began to speak.

“Listen, I know you have this chivalric image of us walking into the sunset together, two broken images being healed by the bonds of love and safety, but that isn’t how the world works. We are two different people with two different problems. We can’t just walk towards a life together and expect everything to be fine.”

She sighed and looked toward the ground. He could see that the hope within her eyes that he had seen a moment ago had simply faded. Again he wanted to speak but was cut off.

“And that is why I am presenting to you a counter offer. They say that you can’t cheat death, but who is to say that we cannot cheat life? The world is a cruel, vile, cold place with no release or relief. Let’s escape. Let’s escape together!”

He knew exactly what she meant, and it saddened him, but he would be lying to say that the thought did not intrigue him at all. He was given the opportunity to escape with the only girl he had ever loved and that was enough for him. He took a look back at the beaten path from which he came and then looked up into her broken eyes. She was still crying, but as he reached down and grabbed her hand he could see that these were tears of joy, joy from finally being able to end it all. She smiled to him a smile of gratitude which was answered by him with a smile of adoration, and with that they took a step forward together in unity, and with locked hands and heavy hearts jumped to their deaths.